Movie Review: Criminal takes a journey to the center of the mind

Thursday

There are all sorts of casting and acting surprises in "Criminal," a political action thriller with a science fiction edge.

There are all sorts of casting and acting surprises in "Criminal," a political action thriller with a science fiction edge.

Let’s start with Kevin Costner, one of Hollywood’s go-to men for playing good guys. Getting a look at him as Jerico in the trailer for "Criminal" (I watched it after I saw the film), you can’t help but think, "Costner? Playing someone this vicious?" But that would mean you didn’t see him play the leader of the casino-robbing gang in "3,000 Miles to Graceland," all decked out in an Elvis impersonator suit, determinedly mowing down people with a pump action shotgun. He is great in this film as a frightening sociopath who, through a scientific experiment, finds himself, against his will, turning somewhat "normal."

Then there’s Gary Oldman, who has played plenty of loonies before (Sid Vicious in "Sid and Nancy," Zorg in "The Fifth Element?"), but has in recent years played calmer characters (Smiley in "Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy," Gordon in the "Dark Knight" series). He’s back to gonzo this time, as CIA man Quaker Wells, and owing to bad choices from either him or director Ariel Vromen, it just doesn’t work. There’s no way to believe that a man this excitable and wrong-headed would get to and remain in a top CIA post.

And we’ve got the usually foreboding Tommy Lee Jones, playing the brilliant Dr. Franks, developer of the film’s central experiment, as a meek man who barely raises his voice, even when everything is going to hell around him. Oddly, Jones pulls it off; he’s just about perfect in the part.

There’s a good reason that the face of Ryan Reynolds is not on the film’s poster, but it’s utter nonsense that the IMDB page has his name second from the top. Anyone going to see a new Ryan Reynolds film is going to be bitterly disappointed. ONE-SENTENCE SPOILER COMING UP – His CIA agent character Bill Pope is brutally tortured and killed about five minutes in. END OF SPOILER.

Actually, you can go back and read the spoiler, as it’s really just a tiny plot element that propels the rest of the film. A CIA agent is murdered, taking with him a secret that could, as happens so often in this type of film, save the world. Jerico, serving what’s probably 30 life sentences plus an eternity for the crimes he’s committed – all caused by a frontal lobe malfunction after being dropped on his head as a kid – is the ideal subject for Dr. Franks’ not-quite-ready-for-humans "memory transference" operation. Franks doesn’t want to do it, but the highly strung Wells insists that he must.

The gist: The dead CIA agent’s memories will be relocated into the body of the brutal Jerico, a man described as having no impulse control, a total lack of empathy, and no ability to feel hatred or love. About the only thing he can identify with is the act of survival.

If the experiment works, this Frankenstein monster of a character can go after a certain bad guy and retrieve the important information to, that’s right, save the world. But, hold on, did anyone think about certain consequences, like what happens when two minds try to fit into the space of one. Will they battle each other for control? Or what happens when the new double-minded person meets people from his past (hint: his family, who believe that daddy is dead and have no idea who this new guy is, yet is kind of acting like daddy)?

There are some intriguing ideas going on here; most of the acting (sans poor Mr. Oldman) is excellent; and Israeli director Ariel Vromen, whose only previous American-released credit was the little-seen but terrific and very dark "The Iceman," proves that he knows how to put together an action film that makes you think. His approach is also one that, thanks to a nifty script, is tough, gritty, and no-holds barred. This is a very violent film, though it has an upbeat ending that some viewers will say isn’t earned, but most will likely cheer for, even if they only do it silently, in their own minds.

"Criminal"

Written by Douglas Cook and David Weisberg; directed by Ariel Vromen

With Kevin Costner, Gary Oldman, Tommy Lee Jones

Rated R

— Ed Symkus covers movies for More Content Now.

Never miss a story

Choose the plan that's right for you.
Digital access or digital and print delivery.